This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's Marxist tone
By Simon Maloy

Hour 2 is upon us, and Rush said he doesn't really understand all this commotion over Gov. Sanford. Rush said: “I've got mixed emotions about this. I -- the appearance here is obviously very strange. You don't tell your wife you're splitting the scene. You don't tell your family on Father's Day, by the way. And Obama, you know, Obama bailed on the family on Father's Day, too -- he went out there to play golf. But Sanford left the family on Father's Day weekend.” Rush then explained that he thinks this is a symptom of Americans being too dependent on government -- the governor goes away for five days? So what! We'll point out here that Limbaugh's guest host on Monday was one of the many conservatives upset that Obama took time to go to an ice cream parlor in Virginia instead of “dealing with” Iran.

Anyway, Rush said that Warren Buffett was on CNBC saying that the economy is in bad shape, and that the nation should focus on creating jobs. Rush said that if you want to create jobs, then get Obama out of the private sector and get rid of this health care reform business. Then Rush aired for us a sound bite of Obama's weekly address from Saturday, in which the president said: “But there are also millions of Americans who signed contracts they did not always understand offered by lenders who did not always tell the truth.” Rush said, without anything in the way of explanation, that this was the fault of the government, and then he complained that cap-and-trade will tax carbon dioxide; it will tax Coke and Pepsi. We're not sure what Obama's radio address has to do with health care or cap-and-trade, since the entire thing -- including the portion Limbaugh aired -- was devoted to financial reform and mortgages.

Anyway, Rush then noted that Obama said on Good Morning America that health care reform will not be about the quantity of the care, but the quality, and a panel of doctors is going to oversee everything. Rush said that these doctors will be paid by the government, so it's just going to be a bunch of bureaucrats who are going to make determinations based on how much it will cost to treat you. Rush noted that he took calls last week from people afraid that they'll be denied health care because of their party identification -- fears Rush gleefully stoked and then blamed Obama for creating. Rush said the bureaucrats are going to make their determinations based largely on age, adding that “they're going to decide how much you're worth to them. Help keep these Social Security numbers in check. How the hell do you think they're going to reform that? They're going to reform Social Security by having to pay out to fewer people. And how are they going to do that? By treating fewer older people.” The government is going to mandate that you get health care, said Rush, and then they're going to decide whether you're worth treating. If you think national health care is going to open up an endless vista of health care, you've got another thing coming.

After the break, Rush said the White House is in trouble on health care, and one of the telling indications is that Rahm Emanuel has been sent out to call on members of the Senate. This is Chicago thugocracy coming out of the White House, said Rush. Actually, it's the White House lobbying Congress on legislation -- something every White House does. Rush then said that Obama, during the press conference yesterday, talked in his “smug voice” about the competition between the public and private sector regarding health care, and accused Obama of “ignorant arrogance,” saying that Obama didn't address the idea that the government will create an uneven playing field for private insurers because the government isn't obligated to make a profit. Rush added that “the tenor of his answer on this was most revealing. He almost slipped up and said, 'Well, they shouldn't be making a profit in the first place.' He didn't say it but that was his tone. I think that Obama looks at profits as evil.” It's amazing what Rush can glean from the tone of something Obama didn't say...

Anyway, the point, according to Rush, is that if you have to compete with someone who doesn't make a profit, you're going to lose. But people like Rush are the ones who've been saying that public health care will be awful, so why would people choose it over the private insurance options? That was the point of Obama's remarks (which Rush neglected to actually air), and that point was ably distilled by Steven Benen: “A public option, critics tell us, would provide a horrible, bureaucratic service for customers, including rationing and long waiting times. But here's the follow-up: if that's true, no one would choose the public option and insurance companies would be just fine for the indefinite future.” Something tells us that Rush, as one of those critics of the public option, was doing his level best to simply attack Obama without having to square that circle.

Coming back from the break, Rush said that there's one condition that can be established that would level the playing field between private health insurers and the government -- subject the government to the same reporting requirements and civil and criminal penalties that the private insurers face. Rush added: “This health care thing is a debacle. It is not needed. It is unnecessary, and the vast majority of Americans do not want it. If we get it, it's ballgame. Every aspect of your life will then be regulated on the basis of cost to the government.” We're not sure how Rush knows that the vast majority of Americans don't want health care reform, but actual, legitimate gauges of public opinion paint a very different picture.

Then Rush invited us to guess who has become the latest capitalist. It's Sen. John Kerry, said Rush. On MSNBC a while ago, said Rush, “Lurch” was asked by Andrea Mitchell about the Citibank pay raises, and Kerry said in the normal course of business, people have to be paid according to what the market will allow, but you also have to act in terms of appropriateness and decency. What a 180, exclaimed Rush. Just a few months ago, Kerry was bashing these Wall Street types, but now he's saying that they need to be paid according to market forces. This is going to filter down to Obama voters, said Rush, and the average Obama voter did not vote for this. They thought they were going to get all this money.

Democrats don't get it, said Rush, with a hint of wistful hope in his voice. We're looking at Jimmy Carter 2 here, he said, because the Democrats are arrogant and condescending. They make the mistake that America lives and breathes by what the Democrats do every day. They're trying too much too soon, said Rush, and at some point there's going to be a lot of give.

Then Rush took a call from a man who said that is a fine example of why liberalism needs to answer for itself, and wanted to know what Rush predicts will happen in California and at the national level. Rush said California is going to get a bailout, never mind that Obama and Schwarzenegger say that that's not going to happen. State budgets have to be cut, said Rush, and despite what Obama says, the first cuts are going to be firefighters and policemen. Meanwhile, said Rush, New Jersey spends $14,000 a student, and California probably spends more, and what do you get? Well, Rush, here's what you get for all that spending -- two of the best high school systems in the country.

One more break and Rush was back saying that the White House is going on a big health care push this week, which means it's time for the Obama road show victim parade. Rush said he has a simple question for Obama -- will the health care plan work as well as the stimulus plan? Because we all know the stimulus bombed. Rounding out the hour, Rush took a call from a man who said the firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin reminds him of Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, and wanted to know what it will take to get the MSM to stop being lapdogs, and what can Republicans do about it? Rush said the media won't stop -- do not ever think that the media are going to carry water for Obama opponents. It isn't going to happen. As for Republicans, said Rush, it's the private sector and the interest groups that are going to apply the pressure here.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: You know, this Mark Sanford business, the governor of South Carolina -- vanishes out there. Nobody knows where he is. His wife doesn't know where he is. His staff doesn't know where he is. The word comes out that he's out there hiking the Appalachian Trail. Then word comes back -- no, he wasn't hiking the Appalachian Trail. He was going to go to the Appalachian Trail. He's walking the beaches of Ipanema; then he wasn't walking the beaches of Ipanema. Then he was on a cruise ship down there to Argentina somewhere. Just got back. Everybody's waiting for the press conference to figure out what's going on here.

And, you know, I've got mixed emotions about this. I -- the appearance here is obviously very strange. You don't tell your wife you're splitting the scene. You don't tell your family on Father's Day, by the way. And Obama, you know, Obama bailed on the family on Father's Day, too -- he went out there to play golf. But Sanford left the family on Father's Day weekend, goes out there -- wherever he went, nobody knew. Staff didn't know, and everybody is just in a tizzy about this.

Now, we have forgotten: Back in the day, Teddy Roosevelt did this all the time. Teddy Roosevelt, just to get away, said, “To hell with this!” and he'd go out there hunting or doing something. Now, this was back before big nationwide 24/7 media cycle, before television and all that, but it was also back in the day where people were not so damn dependent on some public figure every day.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The question he got on this was whether on the public option, the government will not be pressured to make a profit to stay in business. They won't be pressured to make a profit. The government doesn't have to make a profit in anything. The private sector, private insurance companies, private health care, they have to make a profit to stay in business.

And the tenor of his answer on this was most revealing. He almost slipped up and said, “Well, they shouldn't be making a profit in the first place. He didn't say it but that was his tone. I think that Obama looks at profits as evil. He obviously doesn't understand that business cannot function without profits.

You know, he's like -- he's like a lot of other dictators. He's got the private sector, and he thinks it's always going to be there to be raped. It's always going to be there to be pillaged and plundered. The private sector is always going to be something he can go grab, and control, and tax, and take money out of, and grow the government. He doesn't have any concept -- or maybe he does -- that he's going to kill it all by doing all this.

”Socialism" watch

LIMBAUGH: “Well, Rush, what do you mean they're going to decide how much it's worth to treat me?” Well, in large measure, it's going to have to do with your age. If you're approaching seasoned citizen status, your worth is a lot less than a young person. You're in need -- you have a duty to die and get out of the way. A Democrat former governor of Colorado said that -- Richard Lamm: “Old people, come on, get out of the way. You're spending all this money. You're costing us all this money. You're going to die anyway, so, just go ahead and fade away and die.”

Now, the truth of the matter is, 80 percent of the nation's health care costs are spent -- or 80 percent of the individual's health care costs are spent in the last years of one's life, understandably and logically. So what they're -- the best way to understand this is this board, this bunch of bureaucrats, they're not going to decide what tests you need based on the quality of care; they're going to decide how much you're worth to them.

Help keep these Social Security numbers in check. How the hell do you think they're going to reform that? They're going to reform Social Security by having to pay out to fewer people. And how are they going to do that? By treating fewer older people. You think they're really going to reform this in some measurable way and make it solvent? They're going to try to reduce the number of people getting it. I'm dead serious, Snerdley. I wouldn't say this stuff if I didn't mean it. This is all such bilge. It is all drivel.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Private-sector health covers -- or health care givers, doctors, nurses, insurance companies have to make a profit to stay in business. Obama's business doesn't have to show a profit. They're not going to stay in business. The government is going to end up being it all, by design.

So, Obama looks at the private sector as just a neverending windfall. He looks at profits like surplus value, the same way Marx did. A profit is almost a crime. A profit is a crime against the people. A profit is rape. It's just -- it's surplus value that you can go get. And when you take some entity's profit, then you have been fair, and you have equalized society -- and that's how he looks at it.

I think Obama's a true believer on this stuff.

America's Truth Rejector

Claimed, against polling data, that American's overwhelmingly oppose health care reform:

LIMBAUGH: This health care thing is a debacle. It is not needed. It is unnecessary, and the vast majority of Americans do not want it. If we get it, it's ballgame. Every aspect of your life will then be regulated on the basis of cost to the government.